Diversionary tactics
by yellow 14
Summary: Sequel to regrouping. W.I.T.C.H respond to an attack by Phobos's forces in Washington DC and Alchemie returns. But what is Phobos really after?


Disclaimer: I will own the rights to these franchises in 2 million years. Possibly. Until then, I really don't own.

Lincon Road, just outside Heatherfield.

Nick Clews shook the sleep from his eyes and focused on the road ahead of him. After a long day at the Golden Diner, he was exhausted and couldn't wait to get home to sleep in his own bed. Suddenly, right in the middle of the road there was a flash of light and a girl of about thirteen to fourteen years old, with short, russet-coloured hair appeared in the middle of the road and collapsed. Screeching to a halt, Nick pulled out his mobile and dialled 911.

"Bang goes my beauty sleep." He murmured to himself as he rushed towards the girl, adrenaline rushing through his veins. Little did he know the significance of this girl, or the events that his chance encounter would trigger.

WITCHWITCHWITCHWITCH

The Vandom household, Heatherfield.

Susan Vandom sat and stared out of her apartment window. She looked at the bottle of sleeping pills her doctor had prescribed for a minute and turned away.

"Will, where are you?" Susan murmured quietly. It had been two weeks since Will's disappearance and despite the repeated searches by the Guardians, Queen Elyon and the rebellion, no trace of Nerissa or Will had been found. Rising to her feet, Susan took one last look at the bottle of sleeping pills, before throwing them angrily across the room in a fit of temper. "Damn you Nerissa!" she screamed. "Damn you for kidnapping my daughter and damn you Yan Lin for getting my daughter involved!"

The doorbell rang, interrupting Susan's angry rant. Breathing in and out slowly, Susan calmed herself down and opened the door. Standing there, was none other than Taranee Cook, nervously fiddling with her glasses.

"Mrs Vandom?" Taranee half-asked, half said. "W-w-we've gotten what could be a lead on Will and Nerissa's whereabouts."

"WHAT!" Susan exclaimed suddenly, grabbing Taranee by her arms. "What is it? Have you found her?"

"Mrs Vandom, someone who we think was Nerissa's prisoner has just been found." Taranee blurted out. "It's possible that she might have information that might help us find Will." Susan sagged slightly.

"Oh." She said. "What makes you so confident about _this _one?"

"Because the girl in question, is Alchemie Jones. And Shagon appeared just after Alchemie disappeared." Taranee replied. "And there appear to be considerable concentrations of magic on her body, consistent with magical encounters."

"Really? Well what are we waiting for?" Susan exclaimed, grabbing her coat and shoes and she followed Taranee out the door.

WITCHWITCHWITCHWITCH

Heatherfield Central Hospital.

Alchemie let out a small groan as she opened her eyes. Her head was pounding and God was she thirsty!

"Just remember who's in charge here!" She heard Shagon hiss and Alchemie rapidly swung her head around, half expecting to see Shagon sitting beside her. Shagon wasn't of course, the hissed warning had been in her head.

"I know, I know. No need to keep reminding me!" Alchemie shot back.

There was a sudden screech of pleasure and her mother suddenly pulled Alchemie into a tight hug.

"You're ok, thank God you're ok!" Alchemie's mum cried as she hugged her daughter and tears ran down her cheeks. Slowly, Alchemie started to return her mother's hug, also crying tears of joy.

"Very touching." Shagon commented dryly. "Don't forget your message now."

"Mum." Alchemie started as her mother released her from the hug. "I REALLY need to talk to Irma, Taranee, Cornelia and Hay Lin."

"Right now? Can't it wait? Where have you BEEN all this time? We've been so worried about you!" Alchemie's mother said in a rush, her face worried.

"Mum, it can't wait. It…" Alchemie hesitated for a moment, deciding to improvise. "It's partially the reason I was let go. Please I…" at this point Alchemie started to cry. "I don't want to go back there."

As Alchemie's sobs increased, her parents hugged her tightly.

"You'll talk to them as soon as possible." Alchemie's mother whispered to her.

"Yeah, we won't LET whoever did this hurt you again, I promise." Alchemie's father added.

WITCHWITCHWITCHWITCH

A spatial fold appeared in a back alley in Washington DC, scaring off a stray cat as it foraged amongst the bins. From the glowing blue line stepped out a giant blue man with long blond hair, a short beard and mean, piggy eyes appeared. Behind him trotted out his steed, a huge rhino-like creature that looked as aggressive as he did.

"Frost!" A voice called out from the portal. "Have you arrived?"

Frost turned and bowed. "Yes my Prince, I am here."

"You know what you must do." Prince Phobos hissed and Frost gave another bow.

"I will keep the Guardians busy my lord." Frost replied in a gravely voice.

"Make sure that you do!" Phobos hissed and the fold closed.

WITCHWITCHWITCHWITCH

Elyon felt a bolt of shock run through her when she saw her old friend Alchemie. Her friend's face was pale, an almost sickly colour and her eyes hinted at nightmares that haunted her waking hours.

"Alchemie!" Elyon exclaimed. "What HAPPENED to you?"

Alchemie swallowed hard and considered telling her old friend the truth. But as she looked up at Elyon, Shagon's voice whispered in her mind.

"Stick to the story girl, stick to the story." And with Shagon's words ringing in her ears, Alchemie began to speak.

I-I-I followed you." Alchemie paused and looked Elyon in the eye. "To the bookshop. To that place you went." She paused and took another deep breath. "I-I-I saw what you did with your mother." Alchemie shook her head. "But that's not important. Nerissa caught me and she sends me as a messenger to you now."

"What does that b#%$ want?" Hay Lin demanded coldly, earning her a glare from Alchemie's parents.

"She said that she intends to stay away from the Guardians from now on and says that if you get in her way, then she will do what's necessary." Alchemie replied.

"What's necessary? What does she mean by that?" Taranee asked with a puzzled expression on her face.

Alchemy swallowed once more. "She says that if she has to kill you to leave her alone, or raise Candracar to ashes, then that's what she will do."

"Overconfident much?" Irma asked sarcastically.

"She DOES have the Heart of Candracar." Taranee pointed out. "In case you haven't noticed, we're a little short handed here."

Elyon meanwhile stood there looking thoughtful. The burden of responsibility that sat on her shoulders as the leader was sitting heavily on her shoulders. On one hand, it WOULD be a lot easier to win if they could focus on beating Phobos first. And fighting a war on two fronts was a recipe for disaster. Those were all good arguments for leaving Nerissa for the time being.

But Elyon was none too happy about the idea of leaving Will at Nerissa's mercy, the girl had risked her life to save hers. And the Guardians needed Will. Elyon knew full well that Will had the ability to lead them far better than she did, knowing their strengths and weaknesses well and more importantly, Will had an instinctive grasp of how to best use those abilities. And in Elyon's opinion, she doubted that they could beat Phobos without Will.

Then there was the issue of Hay Lin. The bouncy, ever-cheerful air guardian had lost all of her bounce and cheer over the past few days and in its place, a dark and brooding personality had taken over. Hay Lin's art was full of shadowy figures and dark colours since the death of her parents and although Elyon was reasonably confident that Hay Lin would follow her, she wasn't so sure that the air guardian wouldn't try to fight Nerissa on her own.

"Thank you Al." Elyon said quietly and she turned to leave, still deep in thought. "I'm so sorry you got caught up in this."

"You cannot SERIOUSLY be thinking about not going after that witch!" Hay Lin hissed angrily, her expression scarier than Elyon even thought possible.

"We need to talk. As a group." Elyon replied with quiet, authority. Hay Lin continued to glare and Elyon's voice softened. "We need to discuss what we're going to do next. No point in getting killed and failing because we didn't think ahead."

Hay Lin's glare lessened and Irma put her arm around her friends shoulders. "We just need to think." Irma told Hay Lin gently. Hay Lin's fists balled and tears started to roll down her cheeks.

"C'mon, we just need to know what to do next." Elyon said gently as she led Hay Lin by the hand out of the room.

WITCHWITCHWITCHWITCH

Zamballa

Nerissa stepped out of the fold and looked around at the purple countryside around her. She grinned.

"Kadma, old friend, it's time for you to join me."

WITCHWITCHWITCHWITCH

Washington DC

Frost pulled on Crimsons reins and turned to face the plastic and metal building in front of them.

"This should get the girls attention." He murmured and charged. Hitting the first plastic screen did nothing to impede the charge. The benches went flying in all directions as he smashed through them without slowing down.

"All hail Prince Phobos!" Frost bellowed as he came out the other side. "Yield before his brilliance and power!"

Meanwhile, a terrified ticket seller was hiding behind her cash machine and dialled 911. And by the morning, pictures of Frost were all over the front pages of every newspaper in the country and all of them were asking the same question.

"Where are the Guardians?"

WITCHWITCHWITCHWITCH

Heatherfield, Guardian headquarters

"I THOUGHT YOU SAID THAT THEY COULDN'T GET OUT OF HEATHERFIELD!" Major Pennal yelled, his squat round face red with anger. Elyon winced slightly at the loudness of his voice.

"No, we said that it seemed unlikely from what we've seen so far." Elyon pointed out. "Yan Lin knew most of the important details."

Major Pennal took a deep breath and smoothed down his mustache. (Irma had said it made him look like Saddam Hussein. Elyon did not thank her for the comparison, it made it damn hard to look at the man without grinning.)

"We're deploying you to Washington DC, so you can hunt down this creature." He said, controlling his voice with some difficulty. "The President wants him subdued and taken into custody before he can launch any more attacks."

"What makes you think he's still in DC?" Taranee asked. The Major rolled his eyes.

"Because, little girl, he was seen less than an hour ago." He sneered arrogantly. "The army are sure that he is in the vicinity."

Taranee fixed Major Pennal with a patent Cook glare. She did not like being patronised, especially by this git.

"Very well." She huffed. "But if he doesn't turn up today, I'm going back to search for Will."

"Getting Will back should be our priority." Elyon added in agreement. "Without her, we are undermanned."

"Or should that be underwomanned?" Irma asked with a grin. "Or is it underpersonned? Or-"

"Yes, thank you Irma." Elyon cut in. "I guess we're going to Washington."

WITCHWITCHWITCHWITCH

Heatherfield

Phobos concentrated on the spell he was weaving. Tracking this item was difficult on Earth, there were so many sources of heat it blurred the details. Slowly, he saw the trail emerge in his mind. Standing up, Phobos made his way down the street.

WITCHWITCHWITCHWITCH

Heatherfield, Olsen's pet store.

Miranda grabbed the bag of small animal bedding and slung it over her shoulder. Her injuries had healed up extremely fast, partially because of the tender care of Matt Olsen, partially because of her species natural healing abilities. Suddenly, she spotted a face she knew very well walk past the window and she ducked so fast that she smacked her knees onto the floor. She didn't notice.

"How is he here? WHY is he here?" Miranda muttered in a scared voice, shaking slightly in fear.

"Hey Mir, you ok?" Matt asked. Miranda looked up and smiled slightly.

"Yeah…" she paused and peeked out of the window outside. "I" Miranda paused once more. "I've just seen Phobos walk by."

"Phobos?" Matt asked, before suddenly realising who she was talking about. "Oh, you mean the guy from Meridian? The one who the Guardians are fighting?" Miranda nodded, her face still pale. "But how come you recognised him? Wait, are you part of the rebels? Are you FROM Meridian?"

Miranda chuckled. She looked Matt in the eye, he deserved to know the truth. He was a nice person, nicer than anyone she'd ever known.

"Well, I am from Meridian." Miranda started. "But no I wasn't part of the rebellion." Miranda paused and swallowed. This next part was make-or-break time. "I used to work for Phobos."

"WHAT!"

"Used to is the operative word." Miranda gave a bitter chuckle. "Last time I saw him before today, he tried to kill me."

Matt's jaw dropped. "So that's what happened to you!" he exclaimed when his mouth finally started working again.

"Yes." Miranda's face turned sour and she felt tears form around her eyes. "He-he-he murdered Cedric and tried to do the same to me." she gasped out between sobs.

"I'm sorry." Matt said as he held Miranda.

"I'm going to get revenge. For Cedric." Miranda said suddenly, wiping the tears from her eyes. "I'm going to make him wish he'd never crossed me."

"Then why don't we find out what he's up to now?" Matt suggested. Miranda raised an eyebrow. "It would be a good way to start."

"What do you mean we?"

"Hey, I didn't save you so you could get yourself killed!" Matt protested. Miranda smiled.

"Well what are we waiting for. Lets go." She said in a blossom of false bravado.

WITCHWITCHWITCHWITCH

Washington DC

"So what's the plan?" Taranee asked Elyon as the five girls stepped off of an H-60 helicopter.

"Split up. We search the city systematically, piece by piece. The army and police are sending out patrols as well. We use the bus station he attacked as a starting point and move from there." Elyon replied. "If one of us finds him, call the others on the radio."

"The one thing that puzzles me is why?" Taranee asked in a puzzled voice. "I mean, it makes no sense for Phobos to attack like this."

"He's a terrorising psychopath, with a universe-domination streak. And this is the capital of the United States of America. What do YOU think?" Irma asked sarcastically. Taranee glared back at her friend.

"Yeah, and he'd attack in force, not this little pinprick." Taranee snapped back.

"Maybe it's the first of many little strikes?" Hay Lin suggested, trying to keep the peace. It seemed to work.

"Maybe…" Taranee said doubtfully. "I suppose it's possible. Didn't think Phobos would even THINK about fighting like that."

"Hey, the guy is obviously smarter than he looks." Irma said with a smile. Elyon however, turned to face Cornelia.

"Cornelia, we can't use Corny here, so take care." She told Cornelia, before giving her a quick kiss.

"I'll be careful." Cornelia replied in a lovey-dovey voice as she gazed into Elyon's eyes. The other rolled their eyes, but Cornelia and Elyon ignored them. After about thirty seconds, the two kissed once more and continued walking.

WITCHWITCHWITCHWITCH

Heatherfield. Roof of Macy's department store.

"Remind me why I'm doing this?" Miranda asked Matt as they followed Phobos from the rooftops.

"Because you're a brave shapeshifter with a grudge?" Matt suggested. Miranda gave him a glare and Matt raised his hands in mock surrender. "Because it might hurt him. That's a good place to start."

"Good." Miranda sniffed the air once more. "We're getting near something really magical, I can smell it."

"Is it close?"

"Right there!" Miranda exclaimed and she pointed to a glowing red gem. "OH!"

"Oh what?" Matt asked.

"That's an elemental gem." She breathed in surprise. "They can allow the person wielding them to use the element the gem is attached to." Seeing the puzzled expression on Matt's face, she elaborated. "For example, if a person had a fire elemental gem, they could manipulate fire without using any of their own magic."

"So not something we want Phobos to get his hands on?" Matt asked as Phobos stepped closer to the gem.

"No. But unless you brought a crossbow or something with you, I don't think we can st-" Miranda stopped as an object shot past her ear and knocked the gem spinning away from Phobos. Before Miranda could say anything, the gem burst into flames and vanished. Phobos span round angrily and sent a blast of magic that sent Miranda and Matt diving for cover. Or more accurately, Miranda diving for cover and knocking Matt over at the same time. With her face less than an inch away from his face, Miranda growled. "That was stupid."

"Sorry." Matt said apologetically.

Miranda cursed mentally as she felt her anger draining away. The trouble with Matt Olsen, Miranda decided to herself, is that it's impossible for me to stay angry with him.

"I'm going to teach you magic." Miranda continued, although her annoyance had left her. "That way, you do something stupid like this, you might just get away."

WITCHWITCHWITCHWITCH

Washington DC

Elyon waved her hand at the Guardians and the girls powered up into their guardian forms.

"Lets rock and roll guys." Elyon said quietly. With a quiet nod from all of them, they flew off into their separate search areas. Irma went in the northern direction, Taranee the south. Cornelia gave Elyon a smile, before flying east and Hay Lin went west. The search for Frost was now on.

WITCHWITCHWITCHWITCH

Heatherfield Central Hospital

Alchemie silently slipped out of the back of the hospital and transformed into Shagon once more.

"Time for me to get started." Shagon murmured quietly as she took to the sky. "I must remember to congratulate Frost on his timing."

WITCHWITCHWITCHWITCH

Washington DC

Irma frowned as she looked down at the street below. Another street, another fruitless search, she thought to herself. A sudden noise made her look up to see Crimson, ridden by Frost, leaping down on her. Irma barely had timer to register the fact that she was directly under him before Crimson landed on her and knocked her into the ground with a thump.

As Frost rode Crimson away, he yelled out to Irma.

"Tell your little friends that they will rue the day the crossed Phobos!"

Irma blinked as the world swam in and out of focus. Her lip was bleeding and so was her head. Groggily, she tried to stand, but her legs refused to support her and she simply stumbled to the ground. Grabbing her radio, she called the others.

WITCHWITCHWITCHWITCH

Heatherfield.

Mandy Anderson ran out of her home, tears running down her cheeks. Her parents, still arguing, didn't even notice that she had gone. She punched a wall in anger.

"WHY DO THEY HAVE TO ARGUE ALL THE TIME!" she yelled, tears of frustration and sadness running down her cheeks. The fact that her parents were getting divorced was no secret. The night they told her, she had cried herself to sleep in Matt Olsen's arms.

There was a burst of flame directly in front of her and Mandy leapt back in shock. A red gem landed on the ground in front of her and Mandy gingerly leaned forward and touched it.

That was all it needed. Screaming as the gem burnt itself onto the back of her hand, Mandy lost consciousness. She was still unconscious when Phobos found her ten minutes later. He threw her over his shoulder and opened a fold with a curse.

"You shouldn't have meddled little girl." Phobos growled as he stepped through the fold.

WITCHWITCHWITCHWITCH

Zamballa

"So good of you to join us old friend." Nerissa said with a smile, looking at Kadma, who was standing there in a zombie-style trance. "It's time we moved on."

WITCHWITCHWITCHWITCH

It was perhaps unfortunate for Frost that it was Taranee who found him first. A fire ball, larger than any he'd ever seen, sent him flying as it exploded at Crimsons feet.

"Hello Frost. Going somewhere?" she growled, her eyes gleaming as she summoned up another fireball. Pulling himself to his feet, Frost roared and threw one of his long knives at her. The blade never even got close. Instead, much to Frost's surprise, the blade boomeranged around and narrowly avoided smashing into his head. Looking up, he saw a very angry Hay Lin looking down at him.

"My friend asked you a question Frost." Hay Lin growled slightly. "You've picked a VERY bad time to pick a fight with us."

Jumping onto Crimson's back, Frost attempted to flee. He rode straight into a brick wall, one that hadn't been there five minutes ago. As the wall slipped back into the ground, a very dazed Frost looked up and saw that he was now facing not one, but three Guardians.

"Nice going Cornelia!" Taranee said with a smile. "Shall we finish this?"

Vines shot out from the ground and soon Frost was tied up by a network of inter-connected vines.

"Nice going Cornelia. I think this calls for a celebration." Elyon said with a smile. "And then, onto Nerissa."

WITCHWITCHWITCHWITCH

Heatherfield Central Hospital.

Alchemie's mother came in one last time to check on her daughter and suddenly screamed.

"What is it? What's happened?" Alchemie's father asked as he charged in. Alchemie's mother pointed at the bed where Alchemie was supposed to be. It was empty.


End file.
